WGSI is a non-profit partnership between Perimeter Institute and the University of Waterloo, created to promote dialogue around complex global issues and advance strategies for a sustainable future.

The newly released Blueprint is the result of the Equinox Summit, which brought more than 40 education innovators from around the world to Perimeter Institute for a week-long forum in the summer of 2013.

The findings and recomendations of the Blueprint, says Summit curator Dr. Michael Brooks, are intended to spark innovative, practical reforms to education that best prepare the children being born now, who will be graduating high school by 2030, to be productive and successful in their postsecondary lives.

“We need the kind of change that can work anywhere for anyone, regardless of their resources,” said Brooks. “We can impact the well-being of a generation with changes that are well-defined, affordable, and implementable. But we need to begin this work now.”

The 2013 Summit was the second such biennial gathering hosted by WGSI, following 2011’s inaugural Equinox Summit: Energy 2030, which explored how cutting-edge science and technology can contribute toward a more sustainable energy future.

The latest summit shifted focus to the intellectual energy that will power the future, and ways to ensure this precious resource is nourished and tapped to its peak potential.

The heart of the new Blueprint is a student-centred vision, thanks to the input of many contributors between the ages of 18 and 30, such as American education activist Nikhil Goyal, Thiel Fellows Chris Olah and Noor Siddiqui, and Sam Levin, founder of the Independent Project.

The Blueprint focuses on seven goals, each of which is further supported with case studies and research:

Developing lifelong learners with a clear sense of self

Cross-disciplinary and collaborative projects that connect students with their interests and community

Fluid groupings of students dictated by of-the-moment academic and social needs

Teachers who co-create and curate the learning of their colleagues and students

Ongoing, iterative assessment of learning

Learners, teachers, caregivers, and government all at the decision-making table

Risk-taking students and teachers who are empowered to experiment with their education

In order to “unfreeze” these priorities, students from the Master of Digital Experience Innovation program at the University of Waterloo designed an interactive website, learning2030.org. On this platform, education communities around the world can share their stories and plans for change, discuss common issues, and support one another in the ongoing process of transforming high school education.